Garment bags have been increasingly utilized over the past ten years in travel, particularly travel by business persons. Garment bags have been found quite useful for a number of reasons, including their ability to carry and retain in a pressed condition suits, shirts, coats, and dresses; the ability to carry the garment bag on an airplane without checking the bag to save time at the airport and avoid loss of the bag; they are lightweight and yet provide ample protection of the enclosed garments; and they may be folded and easily stored when not in use.
A problem with the existing garment bags is that they are generally sold in two lengths, one length for suits and shirts, and a second longer length for carrying coats and dresses. The traveler must, thus, either own two garment bags of different lengths or choose between the shorter or longer garment bags. In the latter instance, a traveler owning the shorter length garment bag will not be able to pack coats or dresses without the necessity of folding and wrinkling such garments. On the other hand, if one owns the longer length garment bag, there is the additional bulk and wasted space when only suits or shirts are carried in the garment bag. There is, therefore, a need for a garment bag which may be adjusted in length to meet the differing needs of the traveler.
The garment bag disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,039 attempts to solve this problem by providing a drop bottom garment bag consisting of a slit in the bottom wall of the garment bag through which a pocket may extend outwardly to provide additional length to the main garment storage compartment. The extended pocket is then folded over the front panel of the garment bag for travel. The garment bag disclosed in this patent is not an entirely acceptable solution to the problem for a number of reasons. For example, the separate pocket or appendage extending through the slit in the bottom of the bag provides less room for the garments than the main storage area since it is tapered and does not extend the entire width of the garment bag and is not integral with the main storage compartment of the garment bag. Further, the pocket must be folded over the garment bag thereby folding the garments carried therein, and adding additional width and bulk to the folded garment bag. Additionally, the pocket extending through the slit is cumbersome to use and is not attractive in appearance since the contour is different from the remainder of the bag. Accordingly, there remains a need for a garment bag which may be selectively adjusted to different lengths.
It is also known in the art to provide expansible luggage cases and hand cases such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,443,671; 4,236,615; 4,334,601; 4,361,215; 4,773,515; 4,733,759; 4,805,748; and 4,805,749. However, each of these patents relate to an expansion joint used in expanding a luggage case or hand bag and do not relate to a garment bag or address the corresponding problems of a garment bag as discussed above.
An additional problem with garment bags as presently constructed relates to packing the garment bag. Specifically, garment bags generally include a zipper opening in the front wall for the insertion and hanging of the garments. The opening panel or panels of the front wall of the garment bag in many instances opens only partially and is difficult to maintain in an open position while packing. Accordingly, the garments must be inserted into the garment bag at an angle and the garments must be tucked into the bag through the opening. Additionally, the panels tend to fall closed and must be held open manually. In an attempt to resolve these problems, garment bags have been constructed with retractable rods to hold the panels open. However, such garment bags are not an acceptable solution due to, among other things, their cost to manufacture, their complexity, and their cumbersome nature. Accordingly, there is a need for a garment bag which has an opening at least the width of the garment to be packed and which will remain open.